


Puppet's Void

by moltres (ideallyqualia)



Category: OFF (Game), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Univese - OFF Fusion, Gen, Horror, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 16:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3073889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/pseuds/moltres
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pikachu believes that he's saving the world, but he isn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppet's Void

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Firewolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firewolf/gifts).



> Hi Firewolf! Your nice friend Elf told me you handled a pinch hit without receiving anything in return, and out of the other pinch hitters in the same spot, you were the only one with fandoms I could fulfill. I couldn't finish anything before the two main yuletide collections closed for posting, but that probably doesn't matter. I love writing giftfics. Enjoy!
> 
> Spoilers for OFF.

... _Algor Mortis_...

 

Red had been tasked with salvation; capturing one of every Pokémon in existence to save them. He didn't know what he was supposed to save them from, but his Player seemed to know best, even if they couldn't speak. They directed him to complete the mission, fighting against Pokémon he found and weakening them to the point of submission. They struggled each time, desperate to escape, but Red didn't relent.     

A Pikachu joined him, the first and only assistant he needed. He admired Red's idealism, and accepted that something had to be done. They met at Route 0, where Pikachu mistook him for an imaginary figure that ended up being able to move objects. As far as Pikachu knew, only he could be in Route 0, but Red's presence in it impressed him. He offered to fight for him, in exchange for being the Pikachu he took in a Pokéball, as long as he didn't have to enter it until the mission was over.

Pikachu and Red visited Route 1 first, coming across various types of Pokémon. Some of them were simple workers and miners, but many were also rogue, disrupting peace and interfering with the production of elements necessary for Pokémon to live. Pikachu dealt with them, inflicting enough damage to them to cause them to faint, as Red had been taught how to do. It was the only way for any Pokémon to gain strength.

After visiting a farm, Red and Pikachu caught sight of a large blue bird Pokémon. He was scolding a worker Zubat and shuddering with a chilly temperance, the air cooling to an uncomfortable degree. Once the bird stomped away, the two approached the Zubat. 

"That's Articuno," he gasped. "He's a supervisor to The Original One."

Articuno was unique. Red had to capture him.

...

Despite his base of operations being on the main land, Articuno's nest was located on an island, Almia. On the way over, Pikachu and Red met a traveling merchant several times, who called himself Kecleon. He appeared almost too conveniently, but neither of them complained. 

Articuno went into a raging paroxysm at their arrival, voicing fury at their unwanted "help." Red tried to explain to them that if he stood back and did nothing, then the world would fall apart, but Articuno wouldn't listen. He scoffed at Pikachu's approach, failing to take him seriously until he was driven too far to not submit to a Pokéball.

Red began to feel cold. 

Somewhere, a Pokémon coughed.

 

... _Ignis Fatuus_...

 

Route 2 paid tribute to the largest library in existence, hollowed into a large, slender mountain. Ancient books were stored there, some of them detailing worlds no one could imagine or understand.

Pikachu told him that his brother, Pichu, lived here in Mount Silver. They encountered a Pichu in the library, but his fur was red, and he suffered from fantastical delusions, claiming to command a nonexistent army. His epithet was "of Fire," and he introduced himself as an omnipotent being.

He fled, and the duo turned to an abandoned Pokémart, where Kecleon greeted them. Kecleon watched from his counter as the two fought more wild Pokémon, unfazed by the dusky corridors turning red as more battles were fought. Neither of them noticed that Pikachu was beginning to overpower some of the weaker Pokémon now. 

They met of Fire again at a residential area, where a group of docile Pokémon failed to recognize his inflated importance. By coincidence, wild Pokémon actually appeared when he shouted another command, and they were swiftly subdued. The whole ordeal made Pikachu realize that of Fire was indeed his brother, but he had succumbed to an enigmatic deception of some sort, assuming more power than he had.

His plea to save his brother led them to the peak of Mount Silver, where the red Pichu could be found. 

"I am not a Pichu. I am not your brother! I am Moltres, Bird of Fire!"

His disquieting insults stunned Pikachu, who watched as a small red bird popped out of Pichu's mouth. Red still followed instructions and encouraged Pikachu to fight, barely acknowledging his partner's solemn acquiescence. Moltres became increasingly more aggressive until his body was free of the murine prison, unfolding his wings completely. Pichu's body hung from his neck as a macabre ornament, punctured through.

Moltres was seized as well, enveloped in a beam of light as his Pokéball engulfed him. Red felt unbearably hot as he left the route, and he ran to escape.

Somewhere, a Pokémon was burning.

 

... _Tenebris in Lucem_...

 

A sprawling power plant stood in Route 3, home to explosive and magnetic Pokémon. Some of the workers approached the wild Voltorbs and Electrodes, unaware that they could detonate in sacrificial attack. Red and Pikachu were left to manage the aftermath, sweeping through other battles before Pokémon could fight back to prevent further ignition.

Pikachu definitely noticed that Pokémon could no longer breathe once he was finished with them. They didn't asphyxiate; they just fell limp. Completely. He didn't know what to think of that, so he didn't voice any concern, trusting that Red and the Player understood the implications.

Red and Pikachu combed through the plant, flipping switches at random and maneuvering around invisible walls. Pikachu's revelations became more and more disturbing, witnessing Pokémon losing themselves to the addiction of processed corpses. Some of them had fallen into such a senseless frenzy that they treated wild Pokémon carelessly, either believing that they could fight them or leaving them drifting nearby. A few even attacked Pikachu before he could identify them as wild or not. 

They wandered through a labyrinthine hall and fought more Pokémon, wild and addicted alike. They eventually met the director of Route 3, a yellow bird of jagged feathers. 

Zapdos was spellbound by his duties, intimidated by the thought of losing his self-proclaimed godlike status. He insisted that his realm was a haven, ensuring happiness to Pokémon that had lost hope after wild Pokémon appeared. He charged at Red and Pikachu after a few words, assaulting them with bolts but failing to defeat them.  

The guardian managed to speak a few last words, however, an utterance in alarm. Not quite an insult, he bemoaned Red and Pikachu's failure to notice the fate of a guardian-less route.

Red experienced a tingling sensation in his legs, but he ignored it as they left the route. 

Somewhere, a Pokémon lay in shock.

 

...The PC...

 

The final area Red and Pikachu had to go to was a bizarre dominion, where they were lead in circles through box-like rooms. No Pokémon could be found, although Pokéballs could be found on the floor, the hinges immobile and impervious to button pressing. Whispers could be heard as they moved around.

After looping through endless rooms and hallways, they discovered a new path, almost an entirely different world that was split in three. Each passage led to one of the legendary birds, and each bird made less sense than they had before. Their interference somehow led them to more baffling hallways, one of them full of shadows, and another full of switches. Kecleon was spotted in the middle of it, nonchalantly standing and humming, even though he was surrounded by darkness.

The two of them proceeded up a long staircase, and at a final stop, they met a Pokémon shrouded in white and yellow. 

"I am Arceus," he said. "Why did you decide that? Why did you choose to use Pokéballs?"

Red remained silent. He was confident in his decision that it was for the best, but Pikachu noticed a pile of Pokéballs standing behind Arceus, most of them cracked. Arceus stepped aside to show them fully, and one rolled off the heap, skidding along the floor until it thudded into Red's feet. 

Red picked it up, clicking the button without a flare of light. It creaked open with a puff of red dust. He stared up at Arceus.

"There's nothing in there," Pikachu said. 

"A Pokémon was in there." Arceus gestured to the heap of Pokéballs. "There was a Pokémon in every one. These are the Pokémon Red caught."

Another one rolled down, and Red picked it up again. Another cloud of red mist sprayed out, and Pikachu's mouth opened, realization hanging on his mind.

"That's...not blood…that's not..."

At the third, Red found an item inside, a blue piece of candy that had a crimson stained wrapper. The fourth held a wilted berry.

"Each of these had a Pokémon in them," Arceus repeated. "A Pokéball can't save anyone." 

Pikachu ran up to the dead mountain, flicking open Pokéballs and throwing them when they came up empty.

There were hundreds. One for each Pokémon, Pikachu knew. Only a few weren't in any, including him and Arceus.

"I sent out wild Pokémon to undo the damage." Arceus stared back at Red, his eyes piercing with resolution. "Pokémon became weak. The damage had to be undone. 

"What damage…?" Pikachu echoed, a broken Pokéball in his paws.

"I did it to preserve Pokémon. They became weak to humans." 

 

Pikachu didn't understand. Killing them to save them sounded pointless. When Red raised a hand for battle, Pikachu decided to join him for one last fight. 

"Arceus was lying," he told himself. "Those aren't Red's Pokéballs."

Arceus didn't run, but he looked at them sadly. "This world is now ruined," he said, chanting it over and over. "This one is ruined, too…"

When a Pokéball finally clacked shut for him, Pikachu watched it. He stepped over before Red could, and when he pressed the release button, another red cloud floated out. 

He set the Pokéball down.

"Arceus is dead…" He sat down, staring at the wall.

Red's footsteps faded, and down the hall, Pikachu heard the crying and mewling of a young Pokémon. The sounds of Pokéballs were heard thumping the floor.

Pikachu found a set of tablets sticking out of the wall. Each one was a different color, and Pikachu pulled them out, finding dusty text on them. He counted eighteen of them.

"Giratina…Hoenn destroyed," read one. Crags ripped through some of the words, splitting letters up beyond legibility.

"All…left is one place…"

"New guardians…from..."

"Last world…resort..."

"Same…humans…mistake…extinct..."

Pikachu placed them on the floor. He didn't understand the words, but he had the sense that Arceus had been right.

One final plate was wedged deeper in. He tugged that one out, but he dropped it, the piece shattering and splintering into more pieces.

The only piece that had a full string of letters forming words spelled out, "Save my child…Mev…"

Seconds later, Pikachu heard a final wheeze from the Pokémon Red was struggling with, its breathing cut off. The successful click of a Pokéball rang out.

Pikachu froze. Red's footsteps led back in, and Pikachu stared up at him, eyes wide.

"I had to," Red said. "Pokémon and humans aren't supposed to exist together."

Pikachu continued to stare, the words sinking in with painful scrapes in him. Red had been the only human he ever saw, and if this was what extinction was, then Arceus had intended for Red to be the last. 

The last Pokéball was thrown, and when it hit Pikachu's head, his vision flashed Red and white.

**Author's Note:**

> (General A/N that exists at the end of all my fics): I find unsolicited concrit really rude, I'm not looking for any. Please don't tell me someone was OOC/something happened you didn't like/it's too short/etc. in any bookmarks or comments.


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